The Belgian DPA publishes its Annual Report 2024

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Amendment of the organic law and new internal rules of procedure

The year 2024 was a significant turning point for the Belgian DPA with the entry into force of amendments to its organic law, which were intended to strengthen its independence and efficiency. Following these amendments, the Belgian DPA also issued new internal rules of procedure. These two instruments bring about changes in the internal organization, composition, and functioning of the Belgian DPA, and primarily concern the modernization of certain procedures to optimize its efficiency and operations.

Information campaign on electoral propaganda

In the run-up to the 2024 elections, the Belgian DPA conducted an extensive awareness campaign targeting political parties and the general public, highlighting the rules governing the processing of data for electoral purposes. A letter was sent to the leaders of the major parties in Belgium. An ex officio opinion, a memorandum, two decisions, and an update to the thematic file were also published on our website.

Awareness-raising and events

In 2024, the Belgian DPA’s Front Office stepped up its awareness-raising efforts, particularly through the educational platform www.jedecide.be. The office also developed the "Data and Privacy" EDUbox in collaboration with the VRT, an interactive educational tool for secondary school students, and began developing an equivalent for French-speaking schools. The Front Office also intensified the production of practical information sheets and the publication of FAQs.  Aside from this, it participated in webinars for data controllers and DPOs.

In 2024, the Belgian DPA continued its efforts to support DPOs, as key figures in the field of compliance within organizations. It organized an event entirely dedicated to DPOs, bringing together experts and representatives from the Belgian DPA’s internal departments. This initiative was accompanied by the publication of a list of decisions regarding the role of the DPO (decisions of the Litigation Chamber, Belgian and European jurisprudence).

In March 2024, we organized a workshop on the theme of “smart cities”. The aim of this event was to provide a platform for discussion where various stakeholders could share their experiences, best practices, challenges, solutions, and visions for the future of “smart cities” (read the workshop report here).

At the end of the year, the Litigation Chamber celebrated its fifth anniversary with a symposium. On this occasion, several key figures in the field of data protection had the opportunity to reflect on the past five years and discuss the challenges facing the Litigation Chamber in the future (read the symposium report here).

The year 2024 in figures

2024 marked a general increase in activities for the Belgian DPA.

In 2024, the Belgian DPA received 3,051 requests for information (compared to 3,069 in 2023) and 933 phone calls. It also received 243 mediation cases (compared to 214 in 2023) and 837 complaints. The main topics of the complaints in 2024 were direct marketing, photos and cameras and information security.

The year 2024 was also marked by a continued high number of data breach notifications: The Belgian DPA received 1,455 notifications of data breaches. Human error remains the most frequent cause of notified data breaches (40%), but ransomware and phishing attacks (35%) continue to account for a growing proportion of the incidents investigated.

Finally, the GBA published 310 opinions (118 specific and 192 standard opinions), 1 recommendation, and its first authorization for access to metadata of electronic communications.

As for the Inspection Service, 157 investigations were launched in 2024 (compared to 86 in 2023, representing an 83% increase).

The Belgian DPA’s Litigation Chamber issued 173 decisions in 2024, compared to 171 in 2023.

More details on these figures can be found in the “2024 Figures” section of our 2024 Annual Report.